The invention relates generally to conveyors, and more particularly concerns a conveyor especially adapted to quickly handle discrete objects which are easily bruised or damaged.
Apples and like fruit must be handled gently when they are picked from apple trees and placed in collecting bins; and when they are handled in packing houses, and in subsequent transport and sales operations. Bruised and damaged fruit can have substantially less value than non-bruised, relatively perfect fruit.
Vincent E. Bryan III, et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/371,446 entitled “Mobile System For Improving The Picking And Preliminary Processing Of Apples, Citrus, Stone Fruit And Like Objects,” incorporated herein by reference, discloses a mobile system for assisting in the picking, culling and bin packing of apples and like fruit.
It is an object of this invention to provide a dry bin or downloader conveyor that will accept apples or other objects from a relatively elevated cross conveyor; that will then gently and quickly lower the accepted objects into a bin; and that will then place the objects in the bin in such a way as to minimize the likelihood that the objects will be bruised or otherwise damaged.
It is another object to provide a downloader conveyor that will handle a relatively high volume of apples or other objects at a relatively high speed, yet in a gentle manner.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide such a dry bin or downloader conveyor that is reliable and rugged in operation and yet relatively inexpensive to manufacture and maintain.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the detailed description and upon reference to the drawings. Throughout the drawings, like reference numerals refer to like parts.